Former LAC Director George Schroeder to return as interim chief

The untimely death of South Carolina Legislative Audit Council Director Tom Bardin affected his good friend George Schroeder in many ways. The two men have been good friends since Shroeder hired Bardin to the agency right out of school in 1979. After Schroeder retired in 2009, Bardin was chosen Schroeder. “He was just top-notch. I thought he’d have a career that would last 10 or 15 years and that the council would just thrive under him. His early death is just devastating,” says Schroeder.

In an interview this year with South Carolina Radio Network, Bardin said he was particularly proud of the the investigation he oversaw that resulted in a total overhaul of the Employment Security Commission.

Now the council has called on Schroeder to step in to help the agency regroup after Bardin’s death Saturday. Schroeder headed back into the agency Monday after Chairman Philip Laughridge of Columbia had a phone meeting with the council, then notified Schroeder.

“They will then have a process where they will review candidates for the job and try to get that settled in the next couiple of months. They hope to have a new director in place by Christmas,” Schroeder explained in a phone call with South Carolina Radio Network Monday.

Schroeder stepped out or retirement once this year to accept Gov. Nikki Haley’s appointment as the state’s first Inspector General. He left the post after a few weeks over communications frustrations with Haley’s staff.